Hello all,
This is a long shot, but with so many Moog experts here, I was hoping someone could help a (now much older) guy learn just what he had a long time ago. Back in '82/83 I bought a Moog synth in a pawn shop in Idaho and played around with it for a while. In a recent conversation, I was reminded of it and can’t recall the model. I looked on the wiki page and went through all the models listed from that time period and earlier but did not see a picture of it. I have also had no luck with a general web search.
I do recall it was definitely marked Moog, but I have never seen another like it. I don’t recall any model name or anything on the front, just the Moog logo.
It had a beige metal case with a similar size and shape of the Rogue, but the knobs and switches were much different, using the black rotaries, and the small black slide switches instead of the larger white slide switches of the Rogue. The knobs and switches were also laid out in a different pattern. It was monophonic, and had no pitch bending. Output was through a 1/4" jack in the back of the unit. While it had a number of switches and knobs, it wasn’t fancy, just the switch panel, keys, and output in back. The knobs and switches were laid out in a pattern with printed identification, and were not in closely spaced rows. It was pretty hefty, and was 110v only, no batteries or battery compartment. Having been about 30 years ago, this is all I can recall from memory that is reasonably reliable, but if I were to see a picture of the unit, I’d recognize it.
Is it also possible this was a custom unit for someone or something, and not a production model? I admit to having a very limited knowledge of Moog’s production.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The MG-1 is all plastic (except underneath, metal plate bottom). And, although there are some beige borders on some sections, it’s mostly black.
The only real Moog with a beige metal faceplate is the Sonic V.
AFAIK
Except that the Sonic V had a HUGE case, and was nowhere NEAR the size or shape of a Rogue.
On top of that, only a few of them had a Moog tag on them. The Sonic V was a Musonics synth, and only a few during the transition between Musonics and Moog-Musonics had the Moog name on them.
Sory for the late reply, I work for a charity, and can be kept pretty busy at times, especially this time of year.
That looks to be it. The layout is right, and the one I had could have easily been modified with different slider covers (the one I had, had black slider knobs). It was more than just a cover of the logo plate though, someone went to a lot of trouble to Moog-ify the one I had, including the UL plate on the back. (Weird the details you remember years later, while forgetting other things.) I bought it pretty cheap ($50 in a Pawn Shop) so if they were trying to scam $$ by faking a Moog, it didn’t net them much from me
I would like to thank everyone who took time to reply, and put this old mystery to rest for me. If no one minds, I might hang around and learn a bit more when I can, this board is starting to rekindle my old interest in synths!
Could have been something very common at the time, Octave CAT synthesizer. (with an added Moog sticker) They were quite reasonable, and so - quite popular! They sound GREAT.
